| Summary: | Copper oxide-antimony oxide (Cu<sub>2</sub>O-Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) was prepared and entrapped inside Na-alginate hydrogel (Alg@Cu<sub>2</sub>O-Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>). The developed Alg@Cu<sub>2</sub>O-Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> was used as catalytic reactor for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), 2,6-dinitrophenol (2,6-DNP), methyl orange (MO), congo red (CR), acridine orange (AO), methylene blue (MB) and potassium ferricyanide (K<sub>3</sub>[Fe(CN)<sub>6</sub>]). Alg@Cu<sub>2</sub>O-Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> was found to be selective and more efficient for the reduction of 2-NP among all the pollutants. Therefore, 2-NP was selected for a detailed study to optimize various parameters, e.g., the catalyst amount, reducing agent concentration, 2-NP concentration and recyclability. Alg@Cu<sub>2</sub>O-Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> was found to be very stable and easily recyclable for the reduction of 2-NP. The Alg@Cu<sub>2</sub>O-Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> nanocatalyst reduced 2-NP in 1.0 min, having a rate constant of 3.8187 min<sup>−1</sup>.
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